


Mortem et Vitam

by NerdsbianHokie



Series: vetus praesidio [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME, Other, The Old Guard AU, Torture, i actually finished a fic, immortal gays, major character death but they don't stay dead, ofc - Erin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:40:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25758241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdsbianHokie/pseuds/NerdsbianHokie
Summary: A group of immortals in search for the newest of their kind.
Relationships: Agent Vasquez/OFC - Erin, Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer
Series: vetus praesidio [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2005780
Comments: 111
Kudos: 165





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fic! I'm so happy I actually finished this one.
> 
> This fic won't spoil the movie and doesn't follow the movie's plot, and should be understandable by anyone who hasn't seen it.

"It's been a while."

Alex kept her breaths steady. In through her nose. Out through her mouth. She pulled back from her mediation.

"I mean," Kara continued. "Fourteen years isn't long in the grand scheme of things, I guess, but it feels like it's been forever."

Alex hummed, opened her eyes.

The sun had completely set into the ocean.

"Yeah," she said. "It has."

It really hadn't. As long as she had been alive, fourteen years felt like nothing.

"What brings you to National City?"

Alex glanced at Kara, floating in the air past the edge of the wall Alex was sitting on.

"There's someone new."

Kara's eyes went wide. "Really? But it's been so long since the last, hasn't it?"

Alex shrugged. "She's here, in National City. You keep showing up in the dreams."

Kara's face fell slightly, lost a little color. "Do you have a name?"

"Lane."

Kara let out a shaky breath. She pulled her phone from her boot, navigated for a few moments, before holding it out to Alex.

"Is this her?"

A large smile and pale eyes stared back at Alex.

"You know her." Alex looked back at the ocean. "That could make it easier, she won't lose everyone."

"Alex." Kara's voice was tight, hesitant. "Lucy is actually dead. Her funeral was yesterday."

"The dreams don't lie, Kara."

Kara chewed on her lip for a moment. "What do the dreams show?"

Alex reached into her pocket, pulled out the sketch from Maggie.

Rubble.

Blood dripping from the corner of a mouth.

Some sort of mechanical arm.

Superwoman's crest.

Pale, vacant eyes.

"Red Tornado," Kara said. "That's what killed her."

"Red Tornado?"

"An android. Kind of. I was helping test it but it's designer went rogue when the funding was cut. He went after the general in charge, who happened to be Lucy's dad." Kara's shrunk slightly. "She was inside a building it collapsed." She hugged herself. “I was taking her to a hospital. She died in my arms.”

"She's alive, Kara."

"They buried her, Alex."

Alex sighed. "They buried me a few times, too. It doesn't mean much."

Emotions fought on Kara's face. Alex let her process. They had both lost many people over their lives, but had never really had someone come back like that.

Kara did have her cousin reappear, but she hadn't just buried him when he showed up in that stupid suit 

"Let's go get her," Kara finally said.

Alex stood, balancing easily on the wall. She watched Kara for a moment, then pulled her into a hug.

Fourteen years may not seem like much anymore, but she couldn’t lie to herself about how hard it had actually been.

“I’ve missed you,” she murmured.

“I missed you so much.” Kara squeezed tight, then shifted her hold on Alex and lifted off.

Flying with Kara, even after years apart, was as easy as ever.

For Alex, anyway. She just needed to trust Kara and enjoy the view.

Kara had once told her that the increase in satellites and cameras had led her to be more cautious of flying around. It must have only gotten worse the last decade.

The flight didn't take long.

Kara set them down on a path in a cemetery. She led Alex away from the light of the wrought iron lamps, into the expanse of headstones.

Lucy Lane's grave was on top of a hill. Small lights shone up on the granite, throwing the details and epithet into sharp relief.

Kara let out a small gasp as she looked into the ground.

"It's empty."

Alex sighed. "This isn't good."

-

The city spread out below Alex as she leaned on the railing of Kara's balcony. It was a decent view, the ocean spilling from the high rises to the horizon.

Alex had to admit it was a nice apartment overall. Bright. Spacious for a studio. Probably out of budget for anyone with Kara's job who didn't have the savings Kara did.

The door slid open behind her.

"Yeah, just head over when you can."

Kara leaned against the rail next to her, phone raised to her ear.

"Yeah, I'll see you in the morning. Bye."

"Who will you see?" Alex asked.

"Don't freak out."

"Oh, yeah, that's going to keep me calm."

Kara sighed. "This guy at work, a good guy, I promise, knows about me being Superwoman."

Alex closed her eyes, forced herself to not give into her gut reaction.

"And about all of you."

"Kara!"

"I didn't tell him! He figured it out." Kara slumped forward, arms dangling on the other side of the rail. "He runs one of those blogs about celebrities being immortal."

Alex furrowed her brow. "What?"

"They're…" Kara huffed slightly. "It's an internet thing. People find pictures and paintings and compare them to modern celebrities, joking that it's the same person."

“Why?”

Kara shrugged. “For fun, I guess.”

Alex shook her head.

“Anyway,” Kara pushed forward. “Winn mentioned to me one day that I look like some of the pictures compared to Superwoman and the truth kind of came out.”

“How does that lead to him knowing about all of us?”

“There’s multiple pictures with more than one of us and he kind of pieced it together. I haven’t told him much. I mean, he thinks you’re all Kryptonian too.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“What about that I got him to throw some false leads in there? Help keep others from figuring stuff out?”

“Mildly better.” Alex pushed off of the railing, turned and started back inside. “The others will be here in a few days. We’ll camp up in a safe house.”

“You can all just stay here.”

Alex glanced around the apartment. It was big, but not nearly that big. And far from secure enough if what she thought was happening was happening.

“We need an established base to go back to once we have Lucy. We don’t know what situation she’s in right now so someplace a bit more discreet is best.”

Kara groaned. "Fine."

Alex sat on the couch, then swung her legs up, laying down. She closed her eyes, focused on her breathing.

"You can sleep on the bed," Kara said.

"I'm good here."

"Alex."

She opened her eyes. Kara was standing over her, arms crossed.

Alex sighed. Kara wouldn’t hesitate to just pick her up and move her. "Fine."

-

White walls

Fear

Syringe

Lab coats

Handcuffs

_ "You can't keep me here." _

Alex sucked in a breath as she woke. She stared at the ceiling for a moment, reoriented herself, then sunk back into the bed.

She lifted her head enough to look around the apartment.

The sun was streaming through the window because Kara was a morning person. A curtain was drawn around the bed, hiding the rest of the apartment, but letting the smell of coffee and the clacking of computer keys through.

Alex slid out of the bed, pulled her jeans on, noted where her gun was, her labrys, then stepped through the opening of the curtain.

Kara was hovering over the shoulder of a man typing furiously on a laptop. Their backs were to her as she crossed the room.

Kara didn't react, most likely having known the moment Alex woke, but the man jumped when she leaned over his shoulder.

"What're you working on?"

"Oh my God," he said. "You're her. Like, her her."

Alex glanced up at Kara with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry," Kara said. "Winn, chill."

"What?" he protested. "It's her! She's just...her!"

"Her is right here," Alex said. "And asked you a question."

He nodded, eyes wide as he stared at her. "Hacking."

"Hacking what?"

"The hospital to find Lucy's records."

Alex nodded, pulled away. She started towards the kitchen. "I had another dream. She's being held somewhere. Tested on, most likely." She opened Kara's fridge, pulled out a jug of orange juice.

"Why would they test on Lucy?" Winn asked. "If she survived the collapse, she should be in a hospital. And how do you know that anyway?"

Alex drank from the jug, ignoring Kara's objection.

"Kara told me a little about your...hobby," she said, stepping back to the table. "How much do you think you know?"

Winn glanced between her and Kara for a moment before answering. "You're like Kara, right?" His voice dropped to a stage whisper. "Kryptonian."

Alex smirked. She pulled a chair over so she could sit facing him, her legs spread, the orange juice hanging between her knees and swaying slightly in her grip. "I'm as human as you."

Confusion took over his expression. "But you...you've been alive for ages."

She nodded. "I have been. Longer than I care to think about."

"So how..?"

"No idea. I just don't die." She tilted her head towards the laptop. "And the same thing has happened to Lucy."

"That's not possible."

Her smirk grew. She went to stand but was stopped by Kara's hand on her shoulder.

"Do not kill yourself in my apartment," Kara said. "I do not want to clean up blood today."

Alex shrugged, turned her focus back to Winn.

"There's just a few of us. When there's someone new, we dream of them. They dream of us. Eventually we find each other."

"And nobody else knows?"

"We typically kill people who find out."

Winn's face paled.

Kara slapped Alex across the head harder than necessary. Her neck let out low pop. Grey spread around the edges of her vision before receding as the damage healed.

Alex laughed. "Kara vouched for you. So, long as you don't fuck us over, you're safe."

Winn looked back to his laptop, face still pale, sweat starting to glisten at his temple.

"Have you found anything so far?" Kara asked, pushing the topic away from Winn's potential death.

"Uh, yeah. I think."

"You think?" Alex asked.

"Well, I found her records, but all it says is that Superwoman dropped her off, but she was… She had no heartbeat. CPR was tried, but they eventually called it and she was taken to the morgue."

Alex sighed. “Where she woke up. They reported it, she must have been taken to another facility.”

“For what?” Kara asked.

“Testing, like I said, to try and figure out how she didn’t die, and how her injuries healed.”

Winn slumped forwards, elbows on the table, hands digging into his hair. “Can you stop? Lucy died! We just had her funeral, and now, not only is she actually alive, someone is using her as a science experiment? And you’re just so...okay with it.”

Alex took a deep breath. She set the juice on the table, then leaned towards him as she softened her expression.

"I know this is hard. You lost a friend. You just started grieving. It’s never easy. I know how hard it is.”

Winn watched her, tears starting to well in his eyes.

“And now you’re faced with something that changes so much, changes everything. Something that is interrupting your grief while you’re still feeling it so, so sharply.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I’m not okay with what I think is happening to Lucy, I just can’t let myself process it until I know she’s safe.”

Winn nodded.

“Now, I need you to focus on finding any trails so we can save her.”

He kept nodding, then took a deep breath and turned back to his laptop.

Alex stood. She grabbed the juice before stepping back to the curtains around the bed. She pulled them open just enough to grab her labrys, and carried it to the couch. She lost herself in the meditation of sharpening the blade, only the occasional conversation between Kara and Winn breaking through the comforting scraping.

-

Lucy's attention snapped to the door as it opened. Her protests at being cuffed to the bed while asleep faded as she recognized the man walking in.

She has only met Maxwell Lord once before, at an event she had attended with her father. She had read him easily then, and his presence in the hospital room she has been kept in did nothing to calm her.

"Lucy Lane," he said, stepping past the foot of her bed and putting the box he was holding onto the counter. "I have heard a lot about you recently."

"Then maybe you can answer some of my questions," she replied.

He chuckled, shook his head. He opened the box, pulled some items out and set them on the counter as he spoke "Did you know that there is an ancient myth about a woman who never died? It is believed that she started human, then one day became a god, rising after what should have been a fatal wound in battle. There are, of course, multiple myths of immortality, but this one is different."

"Different how?"

"We believe that this one is true."

Lucy rolled her eyes.

"You see, this one lingers," he continued, stepping away from the counter. "Research suggests it originated before written language, then can be found in multiple cultures through ancient history. The same legend. A traveling woman who will not die. Alexandra the Scythian."

Lucy tracked his movement as he paced a few steps across the foot of her bed.

"In more recent years the prevailing theory has been that she was an alien, possibly Kryptonian like our super friends. But you, Major Lane, present another possibility." He stopped, looked directly at her. “You died. Superwoman took you to the hospital, but you were dead by the time she got you there. By the time you were examined in the morgue, your wounds were healing themselves and your heart was beating again.”

“That’s not possible.” The beeping from the heart monitor sped up slightly as her heart pounded in her ears.

“It’s not, but it’s what happened. We’ve been running tests and while nothing has returned with abnormal results, even the minor wounds caused by needles for drawing blood healed within minutes.”

He threw back the bottom corner of her blanket before stepping back to the counter. Lucy pulled against the restraint holding her leg in place.

“We need to know how much damage you can heal from, then we can really start testing.”

He turned back around, hammer in hand.

The beeping grew faster. She pulled and pulled on the restraint, tried to get purchase on the bed to move away from him.

He swung.

A scream shredded her throat as the hammer landed on her knee.

She couldn’t help but sob as her entire existence narrowed to the pain burning up her leg.

Then the pain lessened and lessened and

“Fascinating.”

Tears still streaming, she forced her eyes open, looked at Lord, then slowly followed his gaze to her leg.

The bones were moving under her skin, setting back in place, healing before her eyes.

“What the fuck.” Her voice was hoarse.

Lord laughed. “That’s what I want to find out.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the immortals arrive

Maggie pushed her sunglasses up, resting them on top of her head. She squinted up at the house.

“You’re sure this is it?” she asked.

It was nice. Almost too nice for their usual set up.

“It’s the right address,” Vasquez replied.

“Maybe Kara set it up?” Erin said.

“Yeah,” Vasquez agreed. “Alex is much more ‘hole in the wall’ than…” They looked around the neighborhood. “Suburban mediocrity.”

“Regardless,” J’onn cut in. “Alex and Kara are inside and I suggest we join them.”

Maggie hung to the back of the group as they approached the door and entered the house.

The interior only cemented the idea that Kara was responsible for the location. Open layout, sunlight streaming through windows, furnishing right out of a magazine.

They were barely halfway down the front hall when a door burst open on the second floor and Kara slammed into Vasquez. She made her way through the group, lifting them all up in hugs and going on about how much she had missed them.

Maggie accepted the hug and easily ignored that it was just past the point of painful.

“You actually look older,” she said. Not by much, but Kara had lost some of the youthfulness in her face.

Kara laughed. “You haven’t aged a day.”

Maggie rolled her eyes, shoulder checked her.

“How’ve you been?” Maggie asked as they made their way upstairs.

Kara took a deep breath. “Overall, not bad. At the moment, a little rough.”

“Alex said there is something difficult about the retrieval.”

Kara nodded.

“She didn’t get into any details, though,” Maggie continued.

“We’ll explain everything,” Kara said, pushing a door open.

The makeshift ops center was much more Alex’s style. Blackout curtains over all of the windows. Walls covered in papers and pictures, a few strings connecting pieces, a lot of pen marks. A single computer was set up in the corner, where a strange man was typing rapidly.

Alex was standing in front of one wall, writing something on a paper. She turned once she finished, nodded at them.

"We're close to pinning her down," she said. "Hopefully we will be able to get to her in the next few days."

"Get to her?" Vasquez asked, setting their bag down as they stepped to the closest wall.

Alex pointed to the largest and most central picture.

A picture of a woman in uniform.

The woman from their dreams.

"Lucy Lane," Alex said. "Major in the US Army. Friend of one Kara Danvers."

Everyone turned to Kara. Her face was tight, her arms wrapped around herself.

"She was trapped in a collapsed building a few days ago," Kara said. "We were told she died, had a funeral, but…" she gestured at the group.

“But we’re dreaming of her,” Erin finished with a sigh.

"We believe she was taken from the hospital when they realized she didn't die and her injuries healed," Alex said.

"I've encountered a few organizations connected to the government that have already partaken in human experimentation," Kara said. "With Lucy being military, we think that's most likely where she is."

"Military infiltration," Vasquez said. "Must be a Tuesday." They nodded towards the man. "Who's that?"

The man looked up, gave a small wave.

"Winn," Kara answered. "He's a friend."

"And knows more about computers than the rest of us combined," Alex added.

"Considering you and Maggie refuse to learn, not saying much," Vasquez said.

Alex shrugged.

"Oh," Maggie said. She slung her bag around her arm so she could reach inside. She pulled her sketchbook out. "Got a few more details from the last dream."

She pulled a few pages out. She didn't think it was anything they didn't already know, but anything could help.

Alex took the pages, then turned back to the wall. She attached them under the picture of Lucy before launching into an explanation of everything they had found.

Lucy's general father.

Her reporter sister with connections to Kara's cousin.

The DEO, a paramilitary government organization that targeted aliens.

Cadmus, a black site group loosely connected to the DEO.

Project 7734, something they knew her father was involved in but nothing else.

By the time she got to the end of their findings, everyone was stifling yawns and J'onn urged them all to bed.

-

Lucy sucked in a breath as breathing returned to her body. She strained against the restraints as she tried to feel her throat, feel for any evidence of the slash Lord put there.

Blood drenched the front of her hospital gown, dripped from the scalpel in his hands.

But there was no more pain.

He had killed her but she was alive.

"This rate of healing is incredible," he said.

He set the scalpel onto a tray, moved to the counter and washed his hands.

"You know, I don't think we would even be able to bleed you dry? We could test it, of course, see exactly how fast your blood replenishes."

The idea made Lucy want to balk, but she couldn't react beneath the exhaustion that had settled over her the last however long she had been strapped to the bed.

"Maybe next week," he continued. He nodded to the assistant in the corner. "Note that. We'll get it set up." He stepped to the foot of the bed, looked down at Lucy. "For now, knock her out and clean her up, we're done for the day."

He left.

Lucy watched with heavy eyes as the assistant approached her, syringe in hand. She didn't fight as her head was jerked to the side, the needle inserted.

She would be out in moments, and stay out for an amount of time she did not know. They had spent ages testing it one day, seeing how fast her body burned through the drugs.

She wished it lasted longer.

Faces

A black man

Sleeping figures, paired off

A blond man

Kara

Dimples

A dark room

A picture of her

Lucy woke with a jolt, but the details of the dream lingered.

The same faces.

Kara was new, but the other six had been in her dreams every night.

Were they with Kara? Why?

"I can't help but find myself curious."

She could have cried at Lord's voice, refusing to give her any peace.

"What does an immortal dream of?"

-

Maggie took a moment to orient herself

\- in a safe house in National City, California, looking for the new kid, Alex's arms around her as they slept -

then pushed herself up. She grabbed her book from the nightstand, pulled the pen from the spine and flipped to a blank page.

"A knife," Erin said. She was sitting on the other side of Alex as all four of them had crowded on the bed to sleep. Vasquez was on the far edge, slumped against Erin’s side. "No,” Erin continued. “No. A scalpel."

"Still in what looks like a hospital bed," Vasquez added, hand pressed to their throat. "So much blood."

Maggie sketched as they listed details.

The scalpel, coated in blood.

Thick leather cuffs around slim wrists.

The ups and downs of a EKG readout.

"There was a man."

Maggie's pencil stilled at Alex's voice, but just for a moment. She moved to the next page.

The man.

The man.

He stared up at her, a look of near excitement in his face.

Maggie stared back.

"We find him, we find her."

They left the room as a group, heading to the muffled conversation across the house.

The muffled conversation turned into Kara and J'onn once they entered the kitchen. J’onn had four mugs of coffee waiting.

Maggie set her book down open to the new sketches, pushed it towards Kara.

“We got a face.”

Kara took the book, then her face paled.

“I know him.”

“What?” Alex asked.

“That’s Max Lord.”

“The CEO?” Erin pushed.

Kara nodded. “He’s experimented on humans before. We haven’t been able to get the type of proof needed to lock him up, but the things he’s done…” She shook her head as she trailed off.

“Damnit,” Alex murmured. Everyone looked to her. “We’ve been looking in the wrong places.”

She stormed out of the kitchen.

Maggie was the first to follow her, but the others were right behind her.

Alex burst into the room Winn had taken, the force of the door opening startling him awake based on his yells.

He had his blanket clutched to his chest as he blinked up at Alex.

"We need you on the computer now," Alex said, pulling the blanket away.

-

“Can you explain why we are on a roof?”

Vasquez shrugged, unable to answer Erin’s question themself.

“Because I know when I’m beat,” Winn cut in, knocking on the door again. “Lord Tech has the money to bury whatever they want and I need help digging it up.”

A panel on the door opened.

“superwoman_in_action252, it’s been a while. I don’t owe you any more favors.”

“I’ll owe you this time, razzlerdazzler130,” Winn said.

“We’ll pay,” Alex said. She was leaning against the wall, a few feet from the door.

“I’m not interested in money. I’ll take your favor, Schott.” The door opened. A woman in a hijab stepped out. She eyed them. “This is significantly more than Superwoman.”

“They’re looking for someone.”

Erin leaned close, whispered so only Vasquez could answer. “Those are internet names, right?”

“I’m pretty sure,” they replied.

“They’re fucking stupid.”

Vasquez snorted in laughter. “You once sailed on a ship called The Bloody Shame.”

“It was a very good ship.”

They followed the group inside, Rabiah instructing them to leave any devices in the first room, then giving them a weird look when none of them but Winn and Superwoman had anything.

Then, well, Vasquez was more adapted to the internet than others, outside of the aliens, but everything going on went right over their head.

They ended up sitting against the back wall, playing terni lapilli with Maggie.

Vasquez inspected the paper board they had made. Maggie's last move had cut off their plans and they needed a new strategy.

Erin leaned over from where she was reading. "You could…"

"No," Maggie cut her off. "No helping right now."

"Why?" Vasquez asked.

"Cause my help is…" she gestured to where Alex was talking with J'onn and Kara.

Erin shrugged. "That's fair."

Vasquez sighed. "Thanks, love."

Erin leaned over, pressed a kiss to their cheek. "You've got this."

They took a few more moments to run through a few scenarios before picking up one of their turquoise rings and moving it to an adjacent spot.

Maggie instantly moved one of her coins, centering the hole stamped through the metal on the point the lines of the board met.

Vasquez sighed again. That move was clearly one she had seen coming.

"I think I found something."

Everyone's attention snapped to Rabiah.

"There's a file here, encrypted much more thoroughly than the rest."

"Can you get into it?" Winn asked.

"Who do you think you're talking to?"

Vasquez turned back to the board, made their next move.

Maggie laughed, moved her piece, and won.

Vasquez stared as Maggie collected all of the pieces. She tossed the coins into her pouch, strung the turquoise rings onto a leather strap that also held some of the ruby pendants Erin had collected over the years and the shells Alex had once been obsessed with.

"Guess who's on dish duty the next month," Maggie said, spinning one of the rings.

"Foda-se," Vasquez replied. "I was distracted."

"Always with the excuses," Maggie laughed.

"Got it!" Rabiah exclaimed, pulling their attention again.

Files opened across her screens.

Pictures. Paintings. Articles.

Of them.

Going back what looked like centuries.

"Is that you guys?" Rabiah asked.

"Merda," Vasquez whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rabiah is from the Supergirl comics based on the show, she's pretty awesome.
> 
> I did mean to get this up last night, but I was just dead tired after work.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was later than expected with the last chapter, so have this one now

Lucy stared at the ceiling. Her attempts to push the faces from her mind were pointless with nothing to switch her focus to. It had been hard enough when they were just in her dreams night after night, but with the pictures Lord had shown her, it was impossible.

Her gaze flicked to the door as it opened.

Lord walked inside, followed by an assistant and a few armed guards. He smiled at her.

“You ready for a new day of testing?”

She didn’t respond.

“You know,” he said as he gestured to the guards, directing them to begin whatever their orders were. “I’d think someone in your position would be more grateful for the gift you have to give.”

The guards secured new restraints around her wrists.

“Imagine the potential. Diseases cured. Aging stopped.”

New restrains were put on her ankles as well, a short chain connecting the two.

“We can help keep other people from dying.”

She wanted to die, even to not have to listen to him anymore.

She hated whatever was preventing it.

The guards released the cuffs attached to the bed, forced her to sit up, then chained her wrists together behind her back.

“You will change the world.”

They pulled her out of the bed, letting her stumble as she stood for the first time in days.

At least days.

She wasn’t entirely sure how long she had been there.

Once she was stable, the guards held her still, hands wrapped tight around her arms. Lord stepped in front of her.

“But, as I’ve said, we need to see how far it goes.”

One of those days, killing her over and over instead of pulling parts out of her for other testing.

The chains clinked as they marched her out of the room. The floor was cold beneath her bare feet. She was suddenly much more conscious of the hospital gown she was wearing.

She struggled to move fast enough, her stride cut significantly by the chains while the guards urged her on and on.

After traversing multiple hallways, Lord opened a door.

Lucy’s body froze once she was inside.

“No,” she forced out. “No no no no.”

She tried to fight against the guard’s grips, tried to backpedal out into the hallway again, but she was forced further and further.

She couldn’t hear Lord speak through the roaring in her ears. She could barely pull in a breath through the heaviness of her chest.

A hand on her back pushed and she landed in the pool face first.

-

It was easy to slip into the ritual of preparation. After fourteen years, Kara had expected an awkwardness when she first rejoined the team.

She looked around the van.

J’onn driving.

Maggie’s pencil moving quickly across a page of her book.

Erin’s eyes closed, mouthing what Kara knew to be an old pirate shanty.

Vasquez playing with one of Erin’s hands now that they had checked their weapons.

Alex bent over, elbows on her knees, axe in her lap.

Her family.

She hadn’t realized exactly how much she had missed them.

Before getting any deeper in her thoughts, the van stopped.

Alex took a deep breath, straightened. “Everyone ready?”

Assents rang around the van.

Alex turned to Kara. “Can you hear anything?”

Kara shook her head. “Lord has his buildings locked down. It’s protected from my senses.”

Alex nodded. “J'onn?"

They all looked to him. His eyes were closed, face hardened in concentration. His expression turned to anger.

"I believe she's here," he said. "And in desperate need of help." 

“Alright.” Alex looked around at all of them again, pausing at Kara. “Do you need something to hide your identity? It probably wouldn’t be good for Superwoman to be connected to this.”

Kara shrugged, she wasn't wearing her supersuit, but didn't have her glasses on either. “Lord already knows my secret identity.”

Alex stared blankly at her. “Sometimes you say things, thinking they'll make me feel better. They don't.”

Maggie chuckled, nudged Alex’s side. “Come on, leave the girl alone.”

Alex rolled her eyes.

Kara fought the urge to huff at being called a girl. She might not be over a thousand years old like Maggie, but she was far from a child. Reminding Maggie of that, however, felt childish.

“Let’s just go,” Alex sighed.

They fell into formation as they left the van, Alex in the front, leading the charge, Kara in the back, as a shield from rear fire.

She kept one hand around the hilt of her sword as they made their way up through the maintenance halls. She had mostly kept the sword in its case since becoming Superwoman. She wasn't as opposed to killing as Kal-El, but understood that she couldn't be a public superhero and a known killer.

They moved up one floor, a second, a third.

It was starting to feel too easy when a handful of armed guards turned the corner ahead of them.

The guards froze long enough for Maggie and Vasquez to get their shots off. Kara grabbed a radio from one of their bodies. She set it to the lowest volume and clipped it to her belt.

They stepped into a stairwell. J'onn stopped, eyes closed again.

"I've got her," he said.

Alex gestured for him to take the lead and he easily stepped forward.

They met more and more resistance as they made their way up the building. Groups of guards fell easily beneath bullets and blades, then their still loaded weapons were taken to use on the next group.

“This floor,” J’onn said as they entered the seventh floor. 

There were no guards until they turned a corner and found a platoon waiting, weapons at the ready. Beyond, Kara just barely caught sight of Lord in the elevator before it’s doors closed. The number displayed started to go up.

He was going to the penthouse, good information for later.

In the immediate moment, however, bullets were being sprayed at the team. The first wave of bullets ripped through the team until they were all on the ground, then the bullets centered on Kara and pinged to the ground.

She stepped forward, over Maggie’s arm, Alex’s axe, and slowly approached them.

They reloaded and tried again.

The bullets ripped into her clothes, flattened on impact, fell to the ground.

Behind her, the sounds of healing let her know that she was going to have backup soon.

When the reload ran out of bullets, she moved, running forward, just below superspeed. She grabbed the barrel of one rifle, swung it around to bash the nearest ones from the guards hands. Before they even hit the floor, she was pulling the next gun from it’s holder’s grasp.

Firing started again, from the other end of the hallway.

More bullets hit her as she continued to disarm the guards and they fell around her.

Then silence settled.

Except

Thrashing in water.

Muffled screams.

Silence.

And thrashing again.

She moved towards the noise, moving into super levels of speed. A door crashed around her, then water splashed, and Lucy.

Kara wrapped her arms around Lucy’s limp form, moved to the surface, and lifted her to the floor.

“Kara?” Alex said as she stepped up.

“I’ve got her,” Kara said.

She rolled Lucy onto her side, pulled the cuffs off, then settled by her head, brushing wet hair out of Lucy’s eyes.

Alex appeared next to her, kneeling on one knee, a hand on Kara’s arm. “She’s going to wake up.”

Kara nodded, tried to push the panic down. “C’mon, Lucy,” she whispered.

For a moment, it wasn’t a soaking, lifeless Lucy, but a broken, lifeless Lucy, with a disformed arm and blood dripping from her mouth.

Then Lucy coughed.

-

Lucy coughed. She coughed and coughed, expelling water from her lungs as life returned to her.

She blinked her eyes open, sucked in each breath.

“Lucy?”

She shook her head, turned it into the floor as she kept coughing up water. A hand settled on her shoulder, but pulled away when she flinched at the touch.

“Lucy?”

That wasn’t Lord. Or the assistant. Or any of the guards.

“We’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

That was…

She opened her eyes, looked up.

“Kara?”

Relief flooded Kara’s face. “Oh, thank Rao.”

Lucy pushed herself up with shaky arms. “Kara?” she said again. She reached out until her fingers hit Kara’s shoulder, then lunged forward to hug her. She squeezed her eyes shut and just held Kara, just let herself be held.

“Why don’t you get her out of here?” a voice said from next to them. “We’ll go after Lord.”

Lucy pulled back to look towards the voice.

“You’ve been in my dreams.”

The woman nodded. “My name is Alex. We can explain everything later.”

“We should all get out of here,” Kara said.

Alex shook her head, stood. “He knows about us. If we leave, he will be after us.”

Lucy stood as well, squaring her shoulders. “I’m going after him.”

“Lucy,” Kara protested.

“You don’t have to.”

Lucy turned to the new voice.

Other people from her dreams were waiting by the door, armed with guns and various melee weapons. One of them stepped forward, a black woman with a hood up. Her gun was slung over her shoulder, her sword hung loosely from her hand, a knife was attached to her belt.

“There’s nothing wrong with choosing to leave now,” she said.

Lucy shook her head. “I’m not leaving.”

The woman nodded. “Alright.”

One of the others, tan with long hair kept out of her face in an elaborate braid, stepped forwards, pulled off her jacket.

"Here," she said as she handed it to Lucy.

"Thank you." Lucy pulled it on over the drenched hospital gown.

"This is Maggie," Kara said. "And that's Erin, Vasquez, and J'onn still by the door."

Everyone but the blond man.

Lucy nodded. "Hi."

They all responded, waved.

"Alright," Alex said. "Let's get going."

She crossed the room. The three by the door stepped outside to let her through.

"Alex is kinda the leader," Kara said as they started to follow.

In the hallway, they were checking the weapons on the pile of dead guards.

Lucy's stomach clenched. "You all did this?"

"Only after they did it to us," Vasquez said, jerking their head towards the puddle of blood down the hallway.

"So we're all…" She still didn't know how to put it to words, the way her body healed from any injury.

"Kara and J'onn are aliens," Vasquez answered. "But the rest of us? Yeah."

Oh great.

At least she knew she wasn't alone in what was happening.

"Do you think these will fit?" Maggie asked, holding a pair of pants out to Lucy. The man she had pulled them off of no longer had a face.

Lucy weighed the options of wearing a dead man's pants, or going pantless after Lord.

She pulled the pants on, pulling the belt as tight as it could go and cuffing the legs multiple times.

"Take these," Alex said.

Lucy took the shotgun and pistol, checked their load and safety. She slung the shotgun over her shoulder.

"Alright," Alex said. "Lord."

"He took the elevator to the penthouse," Kara said.

"He'll be waiting for us," Erin said.

Alex nodded. "Vienna '45. Lucy, Maggie, with me. Kara, Erin, Vasquez, you know what to do. J'onn, I need you on look out."

Everyone nodded and separated.

Lucy followed Alex and Maggie to the elevator. She eyed them, the axe strapped to Alex's back, the ornate war hammer on Maggie's hip.

"Do I get more of the plan, or just the name?"

"It's a flanking maneuver," Maggie said. "We go up this way, pull their attention. The others go around back."

Lucy eyed the elevator. "We're putting ourselves in a small box as a distraction? We'll be destroyed."

Alex and Maggie glanced at each other.

"You've had a shitty introduction to our abilities," Maggie said. "But they do change our tactics. When you don't stay dead, a lot more options open up."

Lucy sucked in a breath. She looked over her shoulder, back towards the pool she had just been drowned over and over and over in.

"We won't let him get you again," Alex said, voice soft. "I promise."

"I don't want to die again," she quietly admitted.

Alex nodded. "We'll do our best to keep that from happening."

Lucy believed her. "Okay."

They stepped into the elevator, Maggie stayed in the doorway, leaning against the edge of the door to keep it from closing.

“Here,” Alex said, guiding Lucy to the front corner. “I’ll cover you.”

Lucy pressed into the corner, leaned her head back against the wall, breathed deep as she stared at the ceiling. Alex stepped forward, not quite pressing against Lucy, but hugging closer to the edge of the door.

Moving her head as little as possible, Lucy looked at her, at Maggie.

Alex’s eyes were closed, her breaths even.

Maggie had her head down as she fiddled with her necklace.

Women from her dreams. Nightly visions standing in front of her.

Then Alex opened her eyes. “They’re in place,” she said.

“How do you know that?” Lucy asked.

Maggie stepped into the elevator, letting the doors close.

“J’onn,” Alex answered.

“J’onn?”

Maggie pressed a button on the other side of the door.

“Alien, remember?” Alex said. “Telepathic abilities.”

What the fuck was her life becoming?

The elevator started to rise.

Lucy closed her eyes, felt the thrum of the elevator, the warmth of Alex so close. So different from her last days strapped to a bed.

Each floor passed with a small ping.

Lucy’s fingers flexed around the grip of the pistol.

Maggie murmured something in a language Lucy didn’t recognize.

Alex replied in what sounded like the same language.

The elevator stopped.

The doors opened.

Bullets sprayed.

Alex stepped over, shielding Lucy from the bullets as they ricocheted off the walls.

The bullets stopped.

Then the cries started.

Yells of surprise and pain cut short.

Alex and Maggie leaned over, peering out through the door, then stepped out, guns ready.

Lucy followed after.

She froze at the bodies scattered around the open room the elevator opened into. Blood was already pooling around them. Erin and Vasquez were cleaning more blood from their blades.

Lucy fought the way her stomach turned over. The stench of the blood was thick in the air, coating the back of her throat.

Before she could react, however, more shots were fired, coming in from a hallway.

They all jumped into motion, ducking behind furniture and pulling weapons from the bodies.

Lucy hung to the back with Kara, tried to focus more on the way the team worked together then the bodies falling.

Maggie was right, their fighting style was clearly influenced by their ability to not die. Not sticking as hard to cover, continuing through after being shot, no fear of walking right up to the barrel of the guns and pulling them right out of guard's hands.

Then a new wave burst through a door and Alex pulled her axe out.

Her movements were fluid, the axe more an extension of herself than a separate weapon.

And men fell around her with ease.

And then there were no more guards, just Alex standing over them.

“Lord isn’t out here,” Kara said.

“Of course not,” Vasquez said. “Men like him never are.”

Kara let out a breath, sudden and sharp.

“Kara?” Alex asked. Her voice hitched up “Kara?”

“Men like me, huh?”

Kara stumbled to the side, arm reaching around to her back, desperately reaching for something. Behind her, through an open door, stood Max Lord.

He slid something into whatever he was holding. Something that almost looked like a crossbow. He raised it, aimed it at Kara.

Two shots rang out and Lord collapsed, screaming.

Alex lowered her pistol then rushed to Kara.

Maggie made her way to Lord, setting the war hammer she had pulled out on a table and aiming a rifle at him.

"She okay?" she called over to Alex.

"I'm fine," Kara grunted. "Kryptonite."

Maggie stood over Lord. Blood was pooling beneath his shot out knees. Sweat was building on his brow.

Lucy slowly wrapped her fingers around the handle of the hammer.

"How do you know about us?" Maggie asked.

He spat out a laugh. "Just had to look."

"Where is that information kept?"

Lucy lifted the hammer, felt the weight and balance of it 

"You'll never find it."

"Were you working with anybody?"

"If I tell you, will you let me go?"

"Just kill him," Vasquez cut in.

Maggie nodded.

"Wait," Lucy said. She stepped up next to Maggie, stared down at the man who had tortured her, killed her over and over again. She raised the hammer and brought it down before she could think. 

His skull crumpled beneath the force. His body went limp. She felt numb.

Lucy turned. She handed the hammer to Maggie. She walked away.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rest in the aftermath

The heat of her tea seeped into Lucy’s fingers through the ceramic of the mug. She raised the mug and took a small sip.

“How’re you doing?”

Lucy looked over at Maggie as she and Erin sat at the table with her.

“I’m fine,” Lucy replied.

“You were tortured,” Erin said. “You don’t have to be fine.”

Lucy stared into her tea. “What’s happened to me?” she asked, changing the subject.

There was silence for a few long moments before one of them sighed.

“We don’t know how it happens,” Erin said. “But us, Alex, and Vasquez, at one point we all died, then came back to life, and now, we can’t die.”

Lucy shook her head. “That’s not possible.”

“You’ve experienced it.”

“In the most fucked up way possible," Vasquez cut in.

“V!” Erin admonished before sighing.

Lucy stared at her tea.

“What?” Vasquez asked, sitting as well. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” they said to Lucy. “It was really fucked up.”

She nodded. “Yeah, it was.” She pulled the mug against her chest, looked at all of them. “What does my family know?”

They looked at each other. Maggie looked back to her.

Lucy knew the answer before she spoke.

“They think you’re dead. The hospital declared your death before you started to recover, then you were sent to Lord.”

Lucy nodded as the knowledge washed over her like ice water. “I need to tell them.”

“You can’t,” Maggie said.

“They think I’m dead but I’m not.”

“You know how dangerous it is for people to know about us.”

Lucy looked at her tea again for a moment before looking back up. “If we can’t die, is that just from injury or…”

“Immortality,” Erin said. “You won’t age any more, won’t die of old age.”

Lucy looked at each of them. “How old are all of you?”

“I’m a hundred,” Vasquez said.

Lucy’s jaw dropped slightly.

Erin shoved them. “We’re both over four hundred. Vasquez was born on Leap Day and won’t let that joke die.”

Her jaw dropped further. “Four hundred?”

“A tale of star crossed lovers,” Vasquez said, looked at Erin with the softest look Lucy had ever seen. “The pirate and the sailor, opposite sides of the war.”

Erin scoffed. “Wasn’t much of the war. If I remember right, Spanish naval power was on a decline.”

Vasquez brushed her off. “Maggie’s even older.”

Lucy turned to Maggie.

“I think it’s...sixteen hundred now?”

“Like, you’re sixteen hundred years old?”

Maggie hummed agreement as she sipped her own drink.

“What about…” Lucy looked over her shoulder, towards the open door to the kitchen. Alex and Kara were visible.

“She’s the oldest,” Maggie said.

“How old?”

“Really fucking old,” Erin answered.

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Are there more of us?”

“There’s only been two others,” Maggie said. “Malvyn, we don’t know the location of. He stays on his own. The other, Nike.” Maggie took a deep breath. “Our immortality, we don’t know how it works, but we do know it can end. With no warning, one day the wounds won’t heal. Nike's didn't.”

Lucy let out a short laugh. “So, I can heal from anything, come back from death, but there’s always a chance I won’t? And I can’t go see my family because they think I’m dead? Great.” She set her mug on the table, stood. “I’m going to bed.”

She ignored Vasquez asking her to stay, avoided the kitchen, and made her way through the house until she found a room with a bed.

She sat on the edge of the bed for a few moments before sliding off, down to the floor. She hugged her knees to her chest, dropped her head down. She didn’t cry, but tears soaked into her pants.

The door opened.

Lucy’s head snapped up, dread clawing up her spine.

“Sorry,” Kara said.

Lucy shook her head as she wiped the tears away.

“Hey, hey,” Kara softly said, closing the door and sitting next to Lucy. She draped an arm around Lucy’s shoulders and Lucy couldn’t help but lean into her.

At least someone knew she was alive.

-

“What’s the plan, boss?”

Alex rolled her eyes, turned to Maggie, who jumped up to sit on the kitchen counter.

“First,” Alex replied. “Get out of the city. Eliza Danvers still lives in Midvale, she'll probably let us hide there for a few days before we leave the country.”

“And second?”

Alex shrugged. “Been a while since we were last in Greece?”

“Greece?”

Alex sighed. She leaned on the counter next to Maggie. “Nescio, anaticula. Lord is dead, but who knows who else knows.” She shook her head. “And if Malvyn got enough from the dreams to start tracking her down, we need to get out.”

“But why Greece specifically?”

“It was the first place I thought of?” She gave a small smile. “It was where we met.”

Maggie laughed. “I do remember that.” She held out a hand, pulled Alex over so she was standing between Maggie’s legs. “What’s wrong?”

Alex looked down at her hands on Maggie’s thighs. “I guess I just always hope there won’t be any more, that nobody else will have to live this life.”

Maggie rubbed Alex’s cheek with her thumb.

“The world is getting hard enough to live in with just the four of us,” Alex continued. “Lucy has records, she’s in systems, and she’s already experienced the worst that can come from this.”

“You want to give her time.”

Alex nodded. “She needs it.”

Maggie tilted her head up with a finger under her chin. “You’re a good person, Aleksandrae.”

“Sure she is. What’s for dinner?” Vasquez asked.

Alex rolled her eyes. “J’onn ran out to get pizza and sushi,” she said.

“Pizza and sushi?”

“Kara said they’re Lucy’s favorites.”

“How’s she doing?” Erin asked

“Kara’s with her,” Maggie said.

Alex turned around, leaned back against Maggie so she could see the other two. “Ideas on where we could go for a break? My first thought was Greece…”

“Course it was,” Vasquez said.

“...but do you have any ideas?” Alex continued, not acknowledging them.

“New Zealand?” Erin suggested. “Just across the ocean instead of ocean and land.”

“With that logic, could always go Japan,” Vasquez added.

Alex nodded. She tapped Maggie’s knee, looked over her shoulder at her. “Thoughts.”

Maggie pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’m a fan of Greece.”

“You two are gross,” Kara said as she walked in with Lucy.

“I feel like we’ve earned gross,” Maggie said.

Kara rolled her eyes. “What’s up with Greece?”

Lucy sat at the table, shoulders square, but a red tinge under her eyes betrayed her mask.

“Trying to figure out where we’re going next,” Maggie said.

“You’re leaving already?” Kara asked.

“We’ll be in Midvale for a few days as we figure stuff out,” Alex told her. “But we can’t stay in the city.”

Kara nodded, her temple twitching as her jaw tightened for a moment. She took a deep breath. “Can I visit you?”

Maggie squeezed her hip. She, more than the others, knew how hard being apart from Kara had been for Alex, knew the regret she had hid about how she had handled Kara leaving. Maggie, more than the others, knew how Alex had constantly failed in her fight against her own pride to reach out and contact Kara.

Alex nodded.

Kara’s face lit up.

“Is there anywhere you want to go, Lucy?” Maggie asked.

“Anywhere?”

“Basically.”

“Not Sicily,” Erin said. “Maggie pissed off someone’s nonna.”

“Two centuries ago,” Maggie protested. “Just admit you hate it there.”

Erin shrugged. “I hate it there.”

“What about Lebanon?” Lucy asked.

“Oooh, yes,” Maggie agreed. “It’s been far too long since I had decent balila.” She nudged Alex. “And I know we haven’t been anywhere with baklava up to your standards in years.”

“Vas, Erin, any objections?” Alex asked.

They both shook their heads.

“Alright, then, Lebanon it is.”

-

The amount of blood in the room was oppressive, it's stench clogging the air.

Sam Lane stepped towards the pool he had been told was from Max Lord.

A bullet wound to each knee.

Blunt force trauma to the head.

Different from all of the private security dead from bullets and slot necks and stab wounds.

More personal, he was sure.

"Sir."

He looked to the soldier. The man was holding out some files. "These were found in a lab."

Lane took them, flipped open the first one. He skimmed through the text in the first page, key words jumping out.

Death.

Recovery.

Immortality.

Great, Lord had once again begun to dip into things he did not understand.

He turned to the next paper and nearly dropped the file. He stared at the picture for a few moments then quickly made his way through the rest of the file.

He closed it once he reached the end, took a deep breath.

"I want Lord's body diverted," he told the soldier.

"Yes, sir." And the man was gone.

Lane stepped towards the puddle of blood, glared down at it as he pulled his phone out. He dialed the number from memory.

" _Yello_ ," the man on the other side said.

"I have a job for you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nescio, anaticula - I don't know, little duck
> 
> Nike and Malvyn are also Supergirl characters, bonus points to anyone who figures out who. The hint is in their names.

**Author's Note:**

> And it's done!!!
> 
> As that last scene implies, I do have ideas on where this could go next. However, I have so many other fics I want to focus on first, if I ever even do it.
> 
> Massive thanks to everyone for their comments and even bigger thanks to the people who read through it for me before i posted it.
> 
> quick edit because I forgot to add it when I posted, I wrote the part with Lebanon before the explosion because of a hc that Lucy is part Lebanese


End file.
